Just hours after each of the heartbreaking shootings, Holmes and Page were on their way to becoming common household names. While locked behind bars, they become notorious Twitter superstars, dominating news feeds and television debates.

The hope is that if we can isolate the factor that pushes some people to murder their fellow citizens, perhaps we can alter our social environment and reduce the likelihood that these terrible acts will be repeated in the future. The only problem is, which one could it be?

One obvious question raised by the student campaigns to carry concealed weapons is whether the death tolls in any of these massacres would have been lower if the teachers, tutors or moviegoers had been able to shoot back?

We are in a situation that demands objective scrutiny and attention. This focus can provide the impartial information that our elected officials and we need to arm ourselves and to stand our ground to defend our "inalienable rights" as citizens not just the right to bear arms.

In times of national fear and existential questions, we need to open up our hearts and minds and really start listening to each other about the world we want to live in, and how to make that world our reality.

Like many people, I was shocked and saddened to hear about the shooting tragedy that happened last week in Colorado. But as often happens when tragedy strikes, the community, including the business community, came together in Aurora to help those affected by this terrible crime.

Faithful Democrats are criticizing Obama because he has not used the latest massacre to push for gun control. Even after more than three years of proving the success of running the long game (see DADT, gay marriage, Iraq), Democrats insist on being both impatient and impractical.

By treating the shooter as simply an evil man -- and evil, of course, is irreducible, irrational, operates not on reason but perversions of morality -- we also reduce the actual shooting to a force of nature, beyond our capacity to understand.

We are an easily frightened people and it is easy to manipulate us with fear. What are we so afraid of that we need to have 300 million guns in our homes? Who do we think is going to hurt us? Maybe we would take better care of each other.